Wild ride through filth and outrage - Doug Stanhope - Articles

American comic Doug Stanhope has a few very obvious likes and dislikes. He likes beer, and he likes it an awful lot judging by the almost literal climax to his show. He likes videos that show young ladies engaging in acts that are entirely unlike the homelife of our own dear Queen. And he likes illegal drugs.

Stanhope does not like the US government, George W Bush, religion or the war against terror.

Oh and he likes short words of Anglo Saxon origin - a lot.

In short, the Ronnie Corbett de nos jours he is not.

"Word of Mouth" shows us Stanhope the ranter, performing at a comedy club in Austin, Texas. Like a liberal shock jock, he rails against anything that interferes with his personal freedoms. Unfortunately, he is driven to incoherence by his passion, or maybe it's just the beer. Whatever point he's making often gets lost in the expletives.

We all like beer, we've all laughed at knob gags, but "Word of mouth" gets almost tedious in its relentless profanity.

However, poking out from the filth and fury are pieces of pure gold. His incisive attack on the war on terror is extremely funny, suggesting that "Osama bin Bigfoot" is little more than a wrestling anti-hero created so that Americans don't have to get their "Fuck the Ayatollah" t-shirts out of storage,

He apologises for his drunkenness, saying he has been playing the CNN drinking game, where you have to swallow a shot every time George W Bush mentions the word "evil". You have drink to a whole bottle when Dubya mentions "axis of evil".

He tears apart America's smug belief that it gave civil rights to the world. He points out that he has been given freedom of speech by his voicebox, not the constitution.

Stanhope is hilarious when advocating his personal philosophy: excess in moderation. He tells his audience not to drink two beers a night through the week, but to save it up for one almighty blow-out. "Don't eat a mushroom stem and see colours, eat the whole bag and see God." He is also great value when recounting the encounter with a $15 transvestite prostitute that led him to this conclusion. In this instance, the graphic detail and foul language are used to great effect and wring every ounce of humour out of the anecdote.

"Word of Mouth" is good in parts, but could have done with some editing and a lot more focus. It's a wild, bumpy ride, but essentially a funny one. Perhaps it helps if you're as drunk as Doug…

You can buy a copy of "Word of Mouth" at www.sacredcow.com